


Coming In

by thingswithwings



Category: Brooklyn Nine-Nine (TV)
Genre: Coming Out, Gen, Queer Families, everyone is queer because nine nine
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-30
Updated: 2018-07-30
Packaged: 2019-06-18 18:26:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,822
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15491958
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thingswithwings/pseuds/thingswithwings
Summary: For the prompt "someone on the team coming out to Rosa." Can also be seen as a fic version of this twitter thread I made once: https://twitter.com/twwings/status/994748328737816576





	Coming In

**Author's Note:**

  * For [summerstorm](https://archiveofourown.org/users/summerstorm/gifts).



> I was having trouble getting back into writing, so I threw open prompts at my DW journal and wrote fast and hard. These fics are all quick and unbetaed, with very little research done, as I was just trying to get some practice in and get back in the writing mode. Apologies for any continuity errors etc. Thanks to everyone who prompted and encouraged me! And apologies to subscribers, who are now getting spammed as I repost them to AO3. 
> 
> Original prompt post here: https://thingswithwings.dreamwidth.org/226811.html

Rosa spends a couple weeks after she comes out feeling uncomfortable at work—worried some asshole is going to say something, dreading the potential "jokes," tension pulling across her shoulders, jaw held tight in anticipation. It's not really that she fears it from anyone in particular, and she knows Holt would probably take her side no matter what. But the tension is still there, the anticipation.

*

Jake spends a day making puppy eyes in her direction, starting to approach her and then backing away, greeting her way too many times whenever they're in close proximity. After the latest round of "Heyyyyy, hi, Rosa, hi, how're you, what's up what's goin what's crashin?" Rosa looks him straight in the eye. 

"What the hell is going on, Jake?" 

It can't be the bisexual thing. Not from Jake. Jake was super supportive and nice when she was coming out to her parents. Jake's her friend.

Jake makes a little sad face and grabs her by the wrist. "Okay, okay, can I talk to you?" Before she can answer, he's already tugging her towards the storage room, a move that would get almost anyone else punched in the face. 

Rosa goes along. It can't be the bisexual thing. It's some other dumb thing Jake has on his mind. 

"Okay, _what_?" she asks, when the door is closed behind them. 

"I just—is it okay if I ask you a question? I mean, about your sexual preferences?" He winces as soon as he says it. Rosa winces too.

"Fine," she says. She feels the urge to go into a protective crouch, maybe roll behind one of the shelves for cover. She stays standing, feet planted, shoulders squared.

"Howwwwww . . . oh boy," Jake blows out a breath. "How do you know if you're bisexual?"

Rosa furrows her brow. "I said, in the briefing room. I was watching _Saved By the Bell_ . . . "

"Yeah yeah yeah cool cool cool I know, I meant, more generally, because when you said that, I thought, that's funny, what makes that bisexual? Like, doesn't everyone kind of think that – you know, some men are handsome, some women are also handsome . . . "

Rosa gets her facial expression back under control; it was doing something big that she didn't approve of. "Jake—wait, are you telling me _you're_ bisexual?"

Jake makes some of his big gestures. Rosa ducks, but holds her ground. "I mean, how could I be? This is how I've always felt! I thought everyone felt this way! Do straight men not . . . admire men? Kind of . . . sexually? And romantically? Is that weird?"

When a grin breaks across her face, Rosa approves it and lets it stay. "No. Not weird. Pretty queer, though."

Jake rolls his eyes. "I just—when you came out at work, it got me thinking, and I've never." He stops mid-sentence, sighs, and Rosa takes pity on him. When he speaks again, his voice is really small. "How could I not know?"

Since there's no one else around, Rosa steps in and gives him a hug. "You're pretty dumb," she says, gently. He huffs a laugh against her neck.

*

It's Amy next, when they're both at the sinks in the (finally refurbished) bathroom. Amy glances up and says hey when she sees Rosa, and Rosa says hey back. But she can't help noticing the glance Amy gives her sidelong in the mirror when she thinks Rosa isn't paying attention.

Rosa waits for it. With Amy, you have to be patient. It's annoying. She's drying her hands before Amy speaks up, and Rosa feels that thread of tension in her shoulders tighten up again.

"So, Rosa, I was wondering if I could speak to you about a personal matter," Amy says. Rosa bites the inside of her cheek; it's bad when she's that formal.

"Uh-huh," Rosa says, reflexively replying in the least formal way she can. Amy's lips purse.

"Jake recently . . . spoke to me about something, which I know he also spoke to you about." She coughs. "Regarding his, uh. Sexuality."

"Hey, I didn't make him bi," Rosa says, throwing her hands up. "It's not catching. He was really into Freddie Mercury already when I met him."

"Yeah, he still has the posters," Amy agrees. "No, no, that's not what I meant. I, uh. I wanted advice, and Jake isn't out to anyone else yet."

"Oh," Rosa says. She draws herself up. She figures this is what she gets for being The Bisexual in the office. "What kind of advice?"

"Well, I want to tell him that I'm bi too, but I don't want to step on his toes or anything. It's a really big revelation for him, and if I'm just like, oh yeah, me too, since high school, no biggie, he's going to feel a little . . . deflated. It took him so much courage to work up to it!"

"You're . . . bi . . . too," Rosa says. "Is this - are you joking? Are you and Jake playing a joke on me?"

Amy's eyes go wide. "I would never, ever do that. No. I mean, I'm not out at work, so I never . . . but yeah. I was really touched when you came out. It meant a lot to me."

"Huh," Rosa says. She lets the information settle, thinking it through. Amy's good enough to wait, to be patient with her, too. "If we'd both known, maybe we'd be married now instead of you and Jake." At Amy's wide-eyed surprise, Rosa punches her shoulder lightly and adds, "Just kidding."

"I should be so lucky," Amy mutters, and Rosa wonders for a second if they could've had something, back in the day. If she'd known, if Amy'd known. 

"You should tell Jake," Rosa says. "He loves having company way more than he hates not feeling special. Plus it's not really about him. It's about you, and he should support you too, like you support him."

Amy smiles. "Thank you, Rosa. That's what I needed to hear." Amy hugs her, and Rosa supposes she'll allow it. As they pull apart, Amy places a soft, friendly kiss against Rosa's cheek, just a glance of lips against skin. 

*

"Hey Rosa, Scully and me have been thinkin about it, and we wanted to tell you—"

"Pass."

*

At one of their now-regular family board game nights, Rosa finds herself playing Scrabble with Jake, Amy, and Captain Holt, which is basically torture and she and Jake have to keep resorting to thumb war matches during Holt and Amy's turns to keep from dying of boredom.

"This is nice, our little queer team," Jake says. "Even if some of us knew wayyyy before others." Amy elbows him without taking her eyes off her tiles.

"Ah, you're referring to your recent bisexual revelation," Holt says. "Congratulations." 

"Not sure if accidentally yelling 'I like boys now too' into the building-wide intercom really deserves congratulations," Jake temporizes, "but thank you, Captain. Your guidance as our big gay leader means a lot to me in retrospect."

"I'll choose to receive that as if it had been phrased as a compliment," Holt replies mildly.

Amy plays a six-letter word, using a triple letter score and a double word score; she dances happily for five seconds until Holt plays a seven letter word off of her word, and hits the triple word score with it.

"How many more letters can there be," Rosa grumbles.

"Hey, what about Charles? You think he'd like to be bisexual too?" Jake asks.

"If you asked him, he'd do it entirely out of peer pressure," Amy replies.

"Agreed. Also, Peralta, your youthful cavalier attitude towards sexuality is offputting," Holt adds.

"I'm pan, actually," Boyle says, popping up suddenly behind them. Rosa's the only one who doesn't scream in surprise, but it's a near thing.

"God, Boyle, how are you so _quiet_?" Rosa tries not to grind her teeth as she asks it.

"I wear Hungarian soft slippers," Boyle says, lifting a foot to show them, which is what Rosa gets for asking a question like that. "And I'm pansexual. So I'm _not_ susceptible to peer pressure, thank you _very_ much. So long as that's okay with you, Jake."

"I'm cool with it. Congratulations, Charles."

"Thank you," Boyle replies, and slips off silently to the kitchen to get more of the canapes he brought.

*

"Terry experimented in college," the Sarge confides to her once, when they're both drunk at the bar. Rosa's eyes go wide and she wonders how to extract herself from this conversation. Can she just run? She could just run. "Terry used to think he couldn't be bi if he was married to the most beautiful and amazing woman on the planet. And _devoted_ . . . devoted to her. God, Rosa, I love her so much."

"You can still be bi," Rosa says, eyes narrowing. She's on the edge of her seat, not sure whether to make a break for it or stay to hear the rest.

"YES!" Terry booms, slamming his fist on the table. He giggles at the resulting noise and shushes the room. "Yes," he says again, in a quiet voice. "That . . . that is what Sharon said too."

Rosa cautiously lets her weight settle on the barstool again. "So what were the results of your experiments?" she asks. "Back in college."

" _Very_ positive results," Terry says. "Scientifically significant."

Rosa pats his hand. "Nerd," she says. Terry takes her hand and squeezes it tight. 

*

When Gina shows up dating a woman, and no one in the office makes any fuss about it or asks any questions, Rosa throws up her hands.

"So what, it's just a big squad of queers and nobody told me?" she yells, looking around. Everyone else stops in their tracks. "I did a big coming out thing and you were all just laughing behind your backs?"

"I would only ever laugh at your front, Rosa," Gina purrs. Rosa glares at her.

Jake steps toward her. "You've got it backwards," he says.

Amy smiles. "You inspired us, Rosa. You and the Captain."

"It's like the Sarge is the detectives' Sarge and Amy's the uniforms' Sarge but you're our queer Sarge," Boyle puts in, which almost makes enough sense to make Rosa feel . . . warm. Inside.

"Huh," she says. She feels a little dumb for having yelled. Gina puts an arm around her shoulders.

"Look at the joy you've brought to this sad, humdrum little land," she says, gesturing expansively. "I predict that our parties will be at least 20% less embarrassing in the future, now that everyone's gay."

"Bi," Rosa corrects.

"Pan," Charles says.

"Officially, I actually prefer queer," Amy shrugs.

"Big, gay squad," Gina repeats.

Rosa smiles. She loves her squad.

The next day at work, some uniform says some biphobic shit about how girls just kiss girls to get attention, and Rosa doesn't even have to punch him. 

She reports it to her Captain, who reports it to his sergeants, who take out the trash. 

Rosa doesn't feel tense at all.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [[podfic] Coming In](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16270010) by [growlery](https://archiveofourown.org/users/growlery/pseuds/growlery)




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